"Besides having financial consequences, the whole dispute process takes an emotional toll on people," Kroft said in an extended interview.

"It's just really hard sometimes to get these things fixed. You feel like you're up against this machine and there's no way to break through. After a while I think people sometimes start to question their own sanity.... so we decided to show the consumer what it's like."

From what we've learned from his six-month investigation and two new reports on the credit reporting industry, it's more evident than ever that consumers are in need of real change.

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A few years ago, Experian merged my credit file with that of another person with the same exact name. The other guy happened to be a deadbeat with a ton of defaulted credit cards and a delinquent mortgage. Long story short, sorting it out was possibly the single most frustrating endeavor of my entire life. I had to spend literally dozens of hours on the phone, half the time just trying to find someone to speak to. After a few weeks of letters and endless hours on the phone, I finally spoke to someone who says, "Oh, I can see there are two social security numbers for these various items - we'll just get rid of the ones that aren't yours and you should be all set." My jaw hit the floor. It's impossible to articulate how stupid these people are. Ever since then I've been screaming that these three (Experian, Trans Union, Equifax) credit agencies are scams.